New Delhi, Aug 6: Foodgrain output in the ongoing kharif season is likely to surpass last year’s record of 138.04 million tonnes due to higher acreage and good monsoon for the second straight year, Agriculture Secretary Shobhana K Pattanayak said today. So far, more than 80 per cent of the sowing of kharif crops — paddy, pulses, oilseeds, cotton, sugarcane and jute — has been completed and the planting would continue in some parts till next month, Pattanayak said.
About 19 lakh hectare of crop area has been affected by floods across the country and farmers are likely to take up other kharif crops once the water recedes, he said, expressing concern about poor rain in some parts of Karnataka.While there were floods in some states, there was a drought-like situation in parts of Karnataka, Pattanayak said, adding that there had still been close to 3 per cent jump in the acreage under kharif crops so far.
Pattanayak said farmers in flood-hit areas would replant other crops in 19 lakh hectare once the water receded.Till last week, farmers had sown kharif crops on 878.23 lakh hectares as against 855.85 lakh in the year-ago period, as per the Agriculture Ministry’s latest data.Paddy — the main kharif crop — was sown on 280.03 lakh hectares as against 266.93 lakh, while pulses covered 121.28 lakh hectares as against 116.95 lakh in the same period.
However, oilseeds acreage was down at 148.88 hectare till last week of the kharif season from 165.49 lakh hectare in the same period last year.He said the overall acreage for all pulses is higher, except tur.
With regard to cash crops, he said the overall area sown to cotton and sugarcane was higher than last year so far. Cotton acreage has increased to 114.34 lakh hectare so far in the 2017-18 kharif season from 96.48 lakh in the year-ago period on account of good rain and better prices.
Source Tribune India
